< Zephaniah 3 >
1 Woe [to] the rebelling and defiling, The oppressing city!
2 She has not listened to the voice, She has not accepted instruction, In YHWH she has not trusted, She has not drawn near to her God.
3 Her heads in her midst [are] roaring lions, Her judges [are] wolves [as in] evening, They have not gnawn the bone in the morning.
4 Her prophets unstable—men of treachery, Her priests have defiled the sanctuary, They have violated the Law.
5 YHWH [is] righteous in her midst, He does not do perverseness, Morning by morning His judgment He gives to the light, It has not been lacking, And the perverse do not know shame.
6 “I have cut off nations, Desolated have been their chief ones, I have laid waste their out-places without any passing by, Destroyed have been their cities, Without man, without inhabitant.
7 I have said: Only, you fear Me, You accept instruction, And her habitation is not cut off, All that I have appointed for her, But they have risen early, They have corrupted all their doings.
8 Therefore, wait for Me,” A declaration of YHWH, “For the day of My rising for prey, For My judgment [is] to gather nations, To assemble kingdoms, To pour out on them My indignation, All the heat of My anger, For by the fire of My jealousy all the earth is consumed.
9 For then I turn a pure lip to peoples, To call all of them by the Name of YHWH, To serve Him [with] one shoulder.
10 From beyond the rivers of Cush, My supplicants, The daughter of My scattered ones, Bring My present.
11 In that day you are not ashamed because of any of your actions, With which you have transgressed against Me, For then I turn aside from your midst The exulting ones of your excellence, And you are to be haughty no longer, In My holy mountain.
12 And I have left in your midst a people humble and poor, And they have trusted in the Name of YHWH.
13 The remnant of Israel does no perversity, nor speaks lies, Nor is a deceitful tongue found in their mouth, For they have delight, and have lain down, And there is none troubling.”
14 Cry aloud, O daughter of Zion, shout, O Israel, Rejoice and exult with the whole heart, O daughter of Jerusalem.
15 YHWH has turned aside your judgments, He has faced your enemy, The King of Israel, YHWH, [is] in your midst, You see evil no more.
16 In that day it is said to Jerusalem, “Do not fear, O Zion, Do not let your hands be feeble.
17 Your God YHWH [is] in your midst, A mighty one [to] save, He rejoices over you with joy, He works in His love, He delights over you with singing.”
18 “I have gathered My afflicted from the appointed place, They have been bearing reproach from you for her sake.
19 Behold, I am dealing with all afflicting you at that time, And I have saved the halting one, And I gather the ones driven out, And have set them for a praise and for a name, In all the land of their shame.
20 At that time I bring you in, Even at the time of My assembling you, For I give you for a name, and for a praise, Among all peoples of the land, In My turning back [to] your captivity before your eyes,” said YHWH!
